Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology


Brandon Sanderson - 2014
    On the deadly island of Patji, where predators can sense the thoughts of their prey, a lone trapper discovers that the island is not the only thing out to kill him.Mary Robinette Kowal’s “A Fire in the Heavens” is a powerful tale of a refugee seeking to the near-mythical homeland her oppressed people left centuries ago. When Katin discovers the role the “eternal moon” occupies in the Center Kingdom, and the nature of the society under its constant light, she may find enemies and friends in unexpected places.Dan Wells’s “I.E.Demon” features an Afghanistan field test of a piece of technology that is supposed to handle improvised explosive devices. Or so the engineers have told the EOD team that will be testing it; exactly what it does and how it does it are need-to-know, and the grunts don’t need to know. Until suddenly the need arises.Howard Tayler’s “An Honest Death” stars the security team for the CEO of a biotech firm about to release the cure for old age. When an intruder appears and then vanishes from the CEO’s office, the bodyguards must discover why he is lying to them about his reason for pressing the panic button.For years the hosts of Writing Excuses have been offering tips on brainstorming, drafting, workshopping, and revision, and now they offer an exhaustive look at the entire process. Not only does Shadows Beneath have four beautifully illustrated fantastic works of fiction, but it also includes transcripts of brainstorming and workshopping sessions, early drafts of the stories, essays about the stories’ creation, and details of all the edits made between the first and final drafts.Come for the stories by award-winning authors; stay for the peek behind the creative curtain.

In the Dead: Volume 1


Jesse Petersen - 2011
    These are their stories.If you liked Jesse Petersen's zombie comedies Married With Zombies, Flip This Zombie and Eat Slay Love, these nine stories are set in the same world, but from the perspective of other survivors.

The Peacock Cloak


Chris Beckett - 2013
    In doing so, the book triumphed over a very strong shortlist, including collections by one Booker Prize winner in Anne Enright and two authors who have been Booker shortlisted in Shena Mackay and Ali Smith (the latter a winner of the Whitbread Prize).When announcing the winner, one of the judges – James Walton, journalist and chair of BBC Radio 4’s The Write Stuff – said, “I suspect Chris Beckett winning the Edge Hill Prize will be seen as a surprise in the world of books. In fact, though, it was also a bit of surprise to the judges, none of whom knew they were science fiction fans beforehand.”In 2012 the Sunday Times named Chris’ latest novel Dark Eden the best science fiction novel of the year, and it is currently shortlisted for the BSFA Award in the same category. NewCon Press are delighted to be publishing The Peacock Cloak, the latest collection from one of Britain’s most distinguished and accomplished genre authors. Contains twelve stories (85,000 words) all previously uncollected.

Undead L.A. 1


Devan Sagliani - 2013
    It spread like unstoppable wildfire in all directions, decimating everything in its path for six full weeks before outside measures were taken to cleanse the scourge. These stories take place in those final times. They are told through the eyes of several different Angelinos, each offering a unique perspective to the events as they unfolded and to the aftermath of the virus. When it comes to safely navigating 747's from London to Los Angeles, Edgar Reynolds is a consummate professional. It's his personal life that's in shambles, or more specifically his marriage, after a string of affairs he couldn't be bothered to hide. None of that matters to him the morning he wakes up to discover he's smack dead in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Now what's important is that he survives long enough to hijack a plane from LAX and flee the end of the world.Detective Gary Wendell isn't having the best day. A murder case in West Hollywood takes him from the Hollywood Hills to the Twin Towers in downtown Los Angeles. The hunt for his killer stirs fresh life into Gary's secret obsession. If it's the end of the world, Gary’s going to exact his own justice on the monster who got away, the one who told him that murder isn't art if NO ONE IS WATCHING.When Donny's dad took off he left him and his mom in a run down apartment in Hollywood scrambling to make ends meet. Still, Donny managed to form a begrudging bond with his mom's new boyfriend, Bram, who took him under his wing. Just when things were starting to look up for them as a family, a virus hit Los Angeles taking away any last shred of hope or safety they had. Soon it's up to Donny and his pack of teenage friends, not just to defend their gated apartment complex, but also to scavenge for food and supplies. Working together, they do their part to protect and provide for the remaining survivors at CAMP ZOMBIE.Being invited to the Emmys as the date of her favorite television actor is a dream Kathleen could never imagine. She also never expected to return to the city of her college years one last time before dying of terminal cancer. When the doors burst open in the middle of the ceremony and infected homeless people begin eating her favorite celebrities, everything changes. Now she's caught between spending her final moments in mind-numbing terror fleeing for her life, or letting the filthy undead strip the last good memories away in TO LIVE & DIE IN L.A.Pilar Garcia grew up working in her father's fish taco truck in Boyle Heights, but dreamed of becoming a world-class chef one day. After overcoming the cultural stereotypes and working her way through Culinary Arts school she is able to harness the power of her dreams by returning to her roots and creating a food truck empire in Los Angeles. She's so successful, in fact, that three of her best trucks snatch a spot at the coveted Los Angeles City Fall Street Food Fair in downtown Los Angeles. Unfortunately, that's the same day the virus is released into Skid Row, mere blocks away in LA CUCARACHA. Guillermo and his half brother, Caesar, have always been survivors. Growing up in the gang neighborhoods of Venice Beach they've learned to take care of each other first and ask questions later. Yermo, as his real friends call him, is starting to get a reputation as a serious surfer by the local guys he reveres, including the new legend of Dogtown and former professional surfer, Brody. He's not about to let like the end of the world keep him out of the water or off his streets. Together they form a group capable of not only dealing with the zombie menace but also fighting off the new arrivals intent on taking over Venice Beach – a vicious new supergang: One Blood. They're not heroes though, they're just the DOGTOWN LOCALS UNION.

Shadows over Innsmouth


Stephen JonesNeil Gaiman - 1994
    Lovecraft. Although "Shadows Over Innsmouth" includes the said novella, the book is a collection of Innsmouth-related stories by a number of later authors and not a single story or novel. You might also consider moving your personal rating and/or review to the appropriate page if you have read only the novella. SEVENTEEN CHILLING STORIES, INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL MASTERPIECE OF HORROR: “THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH” by H. P. LovecraftInspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s classic, today’s masters of horror take up their pens and turn once more to that decayed, forsaken New England fishing village with its sparkling treasure, loathsome denizens, and unspeakable evil. “ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD AGAIN” by Neil Gaiman: The community of Innsmouth performs a blood sacrifice–with shocking, terrifying results.“THE CHURCH IN HIGH STREET” by Ramsey Campbell: In the crypt of a derelict church, a sensible young man meets a bestial, unthinkable fate. “INNSMOUTH GOLD” by David Sutton: An adventurer searches for buried treasure–and discovers a slithering hell on earth.“THE BIG FISH” by Jack Yeovil: A few months after Pearl Harbor, a mobster and his floating casino lie under water, teeming with the stuff of nightmares.AND THIRTEEN MORE TERRIFYING TALES!

Dying to Live


Kim Paffenroth - 2007
    Unable to find a moral or sane reason for the horror that surrounds him, he is overwhelmed by violence and insignificance.After wandering for months, Jonah's lonely existence dramatically changes when he discovers a group of survivors. Living in a museum-turned-compound, they are led jointly by Jack, an ever-practical and efficient military man, and Milton, a mysterious, quizzical prophet who holds a strange power over the dead. Both leaders share Jonah's anguish over the brutality of their world, as well as his hope for its beauty. Together with others, they build a community that reestablishes an island of order and humanity surrounded by relentless ghouls.But this newfound peace is short-lived, as Jonah and his band of refugees clash with another group of survivors who remind them that the undead are not the only—nor the most grotesque—horrors they must face.

The Zombie Chronicles


Chrissy Peebles - 2012
    When they get caught in a flood during a rainstorm, the group is forced to take refuge. They are thrust into a mystery they can't explain, and when things slowly begin to unravel, they learn they have to play by a new set of rules.IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a warning to those readers who are looking for a more violent read with gruesome descriptions of blood and gore. This is NOT that type of book. There is lots of zombie action, but this particular story is based more on the action, drama, and survival aspects.word count = 61,805

99 Stories of Blood on the Wall: A collection of 99 word horror stories


Kevin Cathy - 2019
    99 words. 100% horror!

Dark Screams: Volume One


Brian James Freeman - 2014
    From Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar of the acclaimed Cemetery Dance Publications, Dark Screams: Volume One reaches across genres to take readers beyond the precipice of mortal toil and into the glimmering void of irreality and beyond.  WEEDS by Stephen King When a meteorite lands on his property, Jordy Verrill envisions an easy payday. Unfortunately for Jordy, this is no ordinary rock—and the uncompromising force inside has found its first target.  THE PRICE YOU PAY by Kelley ArmstrongNever pay more than you owe. Sounds like easy advice to follow. But for Kara and her childhood friend Ingrid, some debts can never be repaid . . . especially those tendered in blood.  MAGIC EYES by Bill Pronzini Edward James Tolliver has found a weary sort of asylum among the insane. He knows he’s not one of them—but how can he tell anyone about the invaders without sounding that way?  MURDER IN CHAINS by Simon Clark Imagine awaking to find yourself in an underground vault, chained by the neck to a murderous lunatic, a grunting goliath who seems more animal than man. What would you do to save yourself?  THE WATCHED by Ramsey Campbell Little Jimmy gets a glimpse of the cold truth when he finds out that it’s not always what you see that can get you into trouble; it’s who knows what you see.

Ultimate Undead Collection: The Zombie Apocalypse Best Sellers Boxed Set


Joe McKinneyRachel Aukes - 2015
    The Ultimate Undead Collection takes you from sunny Florida beaches to Portland, Oregon, and brings you zombies, pandemics, and visions of the apocalypse, for more than 2,500 pages.Foreword by bestselling author, Mark Tufo.Quarantined by Joe McKinney. Two-time Bram Stoker® award-winning and national bestselling author. Within the quarantined walls of San Antonio, Texas, a detective discovers a murder victim amongst the mass graveyard of the plague dead.The Last Survivors by Bobby Adair and T.W. Piperbrook. National bestselling authors. Three hundred years after the fall of society, the last fragments of civilization are clinging to life, while twisted creatures hunt.The Colony: Genesis by Michaelbrent Collings. International bestselling author. Forget everything you think you know about zombies... Conversion is instant. Headshots just make them angry. And they're getting smarter.Autumn: The Human Condition by David Moody. International bestselling author. Part-companion, part-guidebook and part-sequel, this novel follows the individual stories of these desperate survivors through their final dark days.Trudge: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse by Shawn Chesser. National bestselling author. A former Delta Force operator must make an impossible 3,000 mile journey across a United States filled with millions of infected to find his family--or die trying.Until the End of the World by Sarah Lyons Fleming. National bestselling author. A story of survival, humor, and true love. And zombies.Zombie Wilson Diaries by Timothy W. Long. National bestselling author. A castaway on a tropical island, his only companion is a creature who hungers for human flesh.100 Days in Deadland by Rachel Aukes. Award-winning and national bestselling author. A journey through Dante's Inferno, the classic tale on the horrors of hell... zombie apocalypse style.Dead Hunger: The Flex Chronicle by Eric A. Shelman. National bestselling author. Four unlikely heroes battle hordes of the walking dead in the first installment of an epic saga encompassing two decades.Dying Days by Armand Rosamilia. National bestselling author. Sunny Florida, beautiful beaches... and zombies roaming the dunes in search of the living.

The Dulwich Horror and Others


David Hambling - 2013
    P. Lovecraft, this stylish new collection of adventure stories fizzes with wit and invention. They can be enjoyed separately, but read them in one sitting and the pieces fit horribly together into a larger and more terrible nightmare. †These tales constitute David Hambling’s initial foray into the realm of Lovecraftian fiction. The fertility of imagination, the crisp character delineations, and the smooth-flowing prose that we find in these seven tales leave us wishing for more of the same, and Hambling will no doubt oblige in the coming years. For now, we can sit back and relish a brace of stories that not only evoke the shade of the dreamer from Providence, but which that dreamer himself would have enjoyed to the full. —S. T. Joshi(from his foreword)

Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories


Doug MuranoPaul Tremblay - 2016
    Awe meets ache. Terror becomes transcendence. Regret gives way to rebirth. Fifteen short stories and one poem span nearly every twisted corner of the horror and dark fiction genres:A woman experiences an emotional reckoning inside a haunted house. A father sees his daughter rescued after a cold case is solved, only to learn the tragic limits of his love. A man awakens a vengeful spirit and learns the terrible price of settling scores. A boy comes of age into awareness of a secret universe of Lovecraftian scale. A young woman confronts the deathly price of existence inside a German concentration camp during the Holocaust. And much, much more…Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories features the most celebrated voices in dark fiction, as well as a number of exciting, new talents, including: Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Ramsey Campbell, Paul Tremblay, John F.D. Taff, Lisa Mannetti, Damien Angelica Walters, Josh Malerman, Christopher Coake, Mercedes M. Yardley, Brian Kirk, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Amanda Gowin, Richard Thomas, Maria Alexander and Kevin Lucia. With a foreword from Cemetery Dance magazine founder Richard Chizmar.

The Illustrated Man


Ray Bradbury - 1951
    Only his second collection (the first was Dark Carnival, later reworked into The October Country), it is a marvelous, if mostly dark, quilt of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. In an ingenious framework to open and close the book, Bradbury presents himself as a nameless narrator who meets the Illustrated Man--a wanderer whose entire body is a living canvas of exotic tattoos. What's even more remarkable, and increasingly disturbing, is that the illustrations are themselves magically alive, and each proceeds to unfold its own story, such as "The Veldt," wherein rowdy children take a game of virtual reality way over the edge. Or "Kaleidoscope," a heartbreaking portrait of stranded astronauts about to reenter our atmosphere--without the benefit of a spaceship. Or "Zero Hour," in which invading aliens have discovered a most logical ally--our own children. Even though most were written in the 1940s and 1950s, these 18 classic stories will be just as chillingly effective 50 years from now. --Stanley WiaterContents:· Prologue: The Illustrated Man · ss * · The Veldt [“The World the Children Made”] · ss The Saturday Evening Post Sep 23 ’50 · Kaleidoscope · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Oct ’49 · The Other Foot · ss New Story Magazine Mar ’51 · The Highway [as by Leonard Spalding] · ss Copy Spr ’50 · The Man · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb ’49 · The Long Rain [“Death-by-Rain”] · ss Planet Stories Sum ’50 · The Rocket Man · ss Maclean’s Mar 1 ’51 · The Fire Balloons [“‘In This Sign...’”] · ss Imagination Apr ’51 · The Last Night of the World · ss Esquire Feb ’51 · The Exiles [“The Mad Wizards of Mars”] · ss Maclean’s Sep 15 ’49; F&SF Win ’50 · No Particular Night or Morning · ss * · The Fox and the Forest [“To the Future”] · ss Colliers May 13 ’50 · The Visitor · ss Startling Stories Nov ’48 · The Concrete Mixer · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr ’49 · Marionettes, Inc. [Marionettes, Inc.] · ss Startling Stories Mar ’49 · The City [“Purpose”] · ss Startling Stories Jul ’50 · Zero Hour · ss Planet Stories Fll ’47 · The Rocket [“Outcast of the Stars”] · ss Super Science Stories Mar ’50 · Epilogue · aw *

Brains: A Zombie Memoir


Robin Becker - 2010
    In fact, he can even write. And the story he has to tell is a truly disturbing—yet strangely heartwarming—one.Convinced he'll bring about a peaceful coexistence between zombies and humans if he can demonstrate his unique condition to Howard Stein, the man responsible for the zombie virus, Barnes sets off on a grueling cross-country journey to meet his maker. Along the way he recruits a small army of "super" zombies that will stop at nothing to reach their goal. There's Guts, the dreadlocked boy who can run like the wind; Joan, the matronly nurse adept at reattaching decaying appendages; Annie, the young girl with a fierce quick-draw; and Ros, who can actually speak. United they embark on an epic quest to attain what all men, women—and, apparently, zombies—yearn for: equality.Brains is a blood-soaked, darkly humorous story that will have readers rooting for Barnes and his zombie posse to the very end.

The Horde Rises


T.W. Gallier - 2016
    They are all frantic, saying it's the end of the world. He thinks the dumb computer geeks are crazy and he just wants to go back to sleep, but then they turn on the TV news and his world changes. Zombies are running amok. There was a full-scale nuclear exchange overnight, followed up with a biological weapon attack. He just wants to get home to his family. The three of them are convinced the skills they learned playing the video game Zombie Hunter will serve them well. It quickly proves nothing like the game, and there are a lot of zombies between them and home. Kyle fights his way through the undead and other survivors, with his friends by his side. Their desire is to get back to their small home town before the zombies get their families. And then the next wave of attacks hit and the lights go out. Total Apoc Trilogy: The Horde Rises Fighting the Horde Horde Ravaged About the Author: Tom Gallier was born in Beaumont, Texas, to Texan/Cajun parents. He served 7 years in an Armored Cavalry Regiment (11th ACR Blackhorse Regiment), learning no useful skills. After the Army he went back to school to study electronics, figuring that would be a profession with job security. In 2008 he was laid off. It wasn’t the first time or last time he was wrong. But while in school, and holding down a full time job, he began writing in his spare time. In the mid-nineties he had his first short story sale and publication. He shares his life with his wife and their Yorkie American Princess. He writes Fantasy short stories and novels under “Tom Gallier” and Urban Fantasy under “TW Gallier.”